The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police arrested real estate investment company Unitech Ltd’s Managing Directors Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra on Friday. The two were arrested by the police from Gurugram.
According to police sources, they were arrested for failing to complete a housing project on time in Gurugram’s Sector 70. “They were not having valid permissions from competent authorities before starting the project,” said a senior police official.
The duo did not return the money to the buyers who sought refund of their amount for delay in handing over the possession of the housing project in Gurugram. They were also accused of duping several people and have around 95 complaints registered against them for committing fraud to the tune of ₹35 crore.
An FIR has been registered against them and they have been booked under section 406, 409 (breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120 (b) (concealing criminal offence) of the Indian Penal Code.
PTI reports
Over two dozen home buyers of Unitech’s housing projects in Noida and Gurugram had approached the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) after the builder had failed to give them possession of their flats as the per schedule. The company had promised to hand over the possession of flats in 2012, but failed to meet the deadline.
The consumer forum had asked Unitech to refund the money to the home buyers with interest.
On January 12, 2017, the Supreme Court had directed that ₹2 crore deposited by real estate major Unitech Resorts Ltd with its registry be distributed among 39 home buyers who have sought refund of their amount for delay in handing over the possession of flats in the Vista housing project in Gurugram.
Slapping a penalty on Unitech Resorts for delaying handing over of flats, the Supreme Court on February 20, 2017, had directed it to deposit 14 per cent interest on the ₹16.55 crore invested by 39 home buyers with it.
(The article was earlier published in The Hindu )